The 13-inch Apple MacBook Air $ 919.98 on Amazon offers nearly twice the battery life for a few hundred dollars less, and my Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch of $ 1,507.77 in the Amazon is actually slimmer than the LaVie Z , although a tad heavier. Most notably the Toshiba Kirabook 13 i7s Press $ 1,789.99 on Amazon, our Editors Choice 'for the high-end ultrabook laptop, is not only a high quality system with a similar price, but also a fuller feature set and better battery life, although it is definitely thicker, and heavier.
Design
Lenovo and NEC have pulled every trick in the book to reduce the size and weight of the laptop, from the use of magnesium-lithium alloy for the frame configuration of manufacturing processes to reduce material. For example, instead of attaching the display panel to the cover of the laptop, the panel is made directly onto the lid, with the lid itself as advocates. Its magnesium-lithium alloy is far lighter than machined aluminum that has become common in high-end systems.
Measuring 0.67 by 12.56 by 8.35 inches (HWD) -About the same size as the Apple MacBook (2015) $ 1,269.00 Amazon and Asus Zenbook UX305FA-ASM1 $ 699.00 on Amazon, the LaVie Z manages to be much, much lighter, Weighing only 1.87 pounds. But lists the weight is just so much to describe how light the laptop feels in your hand. For example, the Toshiba Kirabook 13 i7s Touch weighs £ 2.76. Weight difference of an ounce or two is hardly noticeable; weight difference of almost a pound is wonderful. When I first saw and felt the LaVie Z at CES, I thought I was conned. Even after several days of use and testing, the laptop still stuns me with its weight (or lack thereof) every time I pick it up.
As a rule, when the system is designed to prioritize portability and lightweight design, as the LaVie Z obvious, they do so at the expense of quality and overall experience of the laptop. Obviously, the question becomes, is the LaVie do it? A little, but not so much that you can trust. The design feels so light as to be unnerving, but it is a well-made system beyond that. The magnesium-alloy chassis flexes too small when taken by the Nook, but with a bit of flexing of the lid and the underside of the chassis when it is held in your hand, a weakness that the unavoidable result of using little material as possible.
The 13.3-inch display manages to impress with its 2560-by-1440 (WQHD) resolution. While not quite as high-res screen 3200-by-1800-pixel found in the Dell XPS 13 Dell Touch $ 1,349.99 and the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro $ 1,299.00 Lenovo, Toshiba will match Kirabook 13 i7s Touch (even without touch capability), and it is not far from the Retina Display on the latest Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch $ 1,299.00 on Amazon (2560 through 1600) and the 12-inch Apple MacBook (2304 through 1440 ). This is also a big step up from a full HD panel Asus UX305FA-ASM1. Display has a matte finish and inefficient touch, but the better-than-HD resolution is a definite plus.
I did mention compromises, and you'll know what that means to the moment you hear the audio output. The two built-in speaker is located on the underside of the laptop near the front edge, and they sound distorted. Even after some repairs along AudioEngine Yamaha utility, the speaker has weak volume, a thin tinny sound, and no bass to speak of. In many thin-and-light laptop that offers good, or even better, sound quality, it is jarring to hear speakers who not only unimpressive, but downright poor sound.
The keyboard is not as bad as the speaker, but the design chiclet-style keyboard is not the AccuType we often applaud the other Lenovo systems. Rather, it is smaller than the full-size, and with very short key travel and none of the solid feeling you get in other Lenovo laptop. The keyboard has small, widely-spaced keys, but a tight size and unique layout. The arrow keys, for example, has a full-size side arrows, but the up and down arrow keys are narrower than usual. The Enter key is extra-large-a common difference spotted in non-US keyboard design, but there are some other strange quirks. The right Shift key is half the size of the one on the left. The Backspace key is joined by an unexpected FWD Space key where the Delete key could be, which actually adds a forward space, just like the space bar. The Delete key is actually located under the row between Insert and Ctrl keys. The Backslash key is changed locations to accommodate larger Enter key, but there is also a second Backslash key next to the spacebar. I would hazard to guess that the LaVie Z, being a collaboration with Japanese manufacturer NEC, with a layout of the keyboard-style Japanese, using the keys just relabeled for English characters.
The accompanying touchpad have no such problem, with a lightly textured surface that matches the matte finish of the palm rest. Touchpad supports all Windows 8 gesture controls, and a clickable bottom corner to the right and left function button.
0 comments
Post a Comment